Adventures in the Villa

2018-08-01 – Summer 2018 at San Clemente – Day 5

The day dawned beautifully! Those of us who wanted to walked along the beach path about 1.25 miles to Bear Coast Coffee, where we enjoyed coffee and a little bite to eat… Others stayed in their Airstreams….

This is the “Pier Bowl” area – a natural cove where the Pier is located, and around which all other beach related activities occur. We can watch the trains go by, watch the trucks delivering their early morning supplies to the retailers, and we can watch the surfers, Jr. lifeguards, walkers and joggers come and go.

After our walk back we settled into our usual pattern. Phil and Mark worked (or played) at the computer, Steve read in his Airstream, and Lynda, Jane, and Connie (with an occasional assist from Steve or Mark) worked on the jigsaw puzzles…

Tonight we walked to our favorite pub in town – MRK Public – where we enjoyed some artisanal beer and great pub food…

On our walk back, we watched the sun set…

And an enjoyable time was had by all…

August 13, 2018 0

2018-07-31 – Summer 2018 at San Clemente – Day 4

About 4:00 or so we dispersed, then reassembled about one hour later at our campsite for Happy Hours. We rarely cook dinner – hors d’oeuvres are usually plentiful, and we are well satisfied by the time the sun is setting…

After dark we turned in… And an enjoyable time was had by all…

August 12, 2018 0

2018-07-30 – Summer 2018 at San Clemente – Day 3

After dark we turn in… And an enjoyable time was had by all…

August 11, 2018 0

2018-07-29 – Summer 2018 at San Clemente – Day 2

The day dawned beautifully! We walked along the beach path about 1.25 miles to Bear Coast Coffee, where we enjoyed coffee and a fabulous breakfast burrito…

This is the “Pier Bowl” area – a natural cove where the Pier is located, and around which all other beach related activities occur. We can watch the trains go by, watch the trucks delivering their early morning supplies to the retailers, and we can watch surfers, Jr. lifeguards, walkers and joggers come and go.

This afternoon we will be joined by our friends, the Carmichaels and the Millers. Also visiting for the day will be our daughter, Erin, and her thundering herd…

Baby Evelyn is growing like a weed…:

And the kids had a great time in the water; Roisin learned to use the boogie board, while Ian and George watched from the shore:

Although a bit hectic, it was a fun day; we fed the kids early dinner, then put on a movie for them in The Villa, and we adults could enjoy a calm happy hour.

And an enjoyable time was had by all…

August 10, 2018 0

2018-07-28 – Summer 2018 at San Clemente – Day 1

As long as I can remember (1956 to be exact) we have been vacationing at San Clemente State Beach. We are looking forward to this week as we always do.

We’ve had an interesting week here in Redlands. It’s been hot, our contractors are hard at work finishing up the new deck and other things, and there are wild fires in the mountains southeast of here. It has made for an amazing night sky:

So we organized and packed for our trip…

We set out from Redlands Saturday morning. Temperatures are predicted to be a relative cool 101 degrees in Redlands today – It has been 105 or higher for the past several days. But San Clemente should have a high of only 77 degrees. We are looking forward to this respite from the heat…

Another rare event for today is that we will be camping solo – none of our fellow Airstreamers are joining us until tomorrow, when Steve and Jane Carmichael, from Orange, and Mark and Connie Miller, from Tustin, will arrive for the week…

We were shocked, upon our arrival at 12:30 pm, that the park rangers would not let us in until 2:00. We’ve been coming to San Clemente State Park since 1956, and we have never been denied access to the park. If our site is not yet vacant, we were able to park in the day use area. Not today. If we wanted to park in the day use area for 1 1/2 hours it would cost $30. Our other choice would be to turn around and find a parking spot on the street. Oh, well. No use arguing with the 20 something junior ranger – he’s just following orders. We turned around (not always easy in a rig 57′ long…) and found a parking spot where Tony’s El Camino Market used to be…

At 2:00 pm we pulled up to the guard shack again. There was the expected traffic jam – 4 rigs ahead of us, 3 more behind, as we all tried to enter at the same time. This is what we early arrivers generally help to eliminate, but I guess these park rangers like having a crowd at their gates…

We set up quickly, and I settled in to what I normally do here at the beach:

We walked to town for dinner at a new place – One Eleven Coastal. We had a lovely table overlooking the sidewalk and the old Hotel San Clemente across the street. The Old Fashions were perfect, and we enjoyed sharing 3 appetizers – at our advanced ages it about all we can eat…

We Uber’d back to the park, and arrived just in time for the sunset:

And an enjoyable time was had by all…

August 9, 2018 0

2018-07-11 – WBCCI 2018 Wine Tasting Caravan – Day 10 – Farewell

All good things must come to an end. We said our goodbyes and the four Airstreams headed out on separate journeys.

We drove south about 12 miles, then west some 200 miles, driving along the California Coast. I know, most of you think the ocean is west of California, but for most of Southern California the ocean is south!

We did manage to stop along the way and walk a bit at the oceans edge…

We arrived at our storage spot a little after noon…

We unloaded the Airstream and drove the 5 minutes home…

As is our custom, with short blogs on travel days, we post photos of our grandchildren. They are in Canada right now, visiting friends and family…

Our next trip will be for one week at San Clemente State Beach. Temperatures should be in the low 80s – better than the 100+ days we are having here in Redlands…

And an enjoyable time will be had by all…

August 2, 2018 0

2018-07-10 – WBCCI 2018 Wine Tasting Caravan – Day 9 – Santa Ynez

An exciting day for the caravan today – a rare opportunity to do a wine tasting at the home of the owner of the winery! Definitely, not your ordinary tasting room!

Just outside the town of Los Olivos, we approached the gates and pressed the call button. The gates opened and we proceeded down the driveway:

As fun as this is, the main event was on the backyard patio:

The view was lovely:

This is Tantara. The owner, Carlos Coelho, bought Tantara from Bill Cates a few years ago. Carlos is an Argentine, married to a Hungarian, with a large winery in Hungary. He was not at home here today, but he does spend time here in the Santa Ynez valley from time to time…

Our tasting was lovely, with great wines accompanied by several very nice cheeses.

Each year Tantara selects the best barrel of wine from their best vineyards and calls the wine “Evelyn”. We’ve enjoyed several bottles of Evelyn over the past few years and it always has been spectacular. Given our Blessed Event this past March, we could not resist stocking up on several bottles of Evelyn, and when the 2018 vintage is released we will need to buy many more…

After our leisurely tasting here at Tantara we once again headed out, this time up to the top of the San Marcos Pass, to an ancient Stage Coach Stop and Tavern, on Cold Springs Road…

This was the stage coach stop between Santa Barbara and Los Olivos, where Mattei’s Tavern is also still operating. An enjoyable lunch was had in the rustic dining room:

After lunch we walked down the road a bit to see the underside of the Cold Springs Bridge. Today drivers on Hwy 154 pass over the bridge without even noticing that it was the longest steel arch bridge in the world when it was built…

After seeing the bridge, we had to walk up the hill again; we returned to the Airstreams for an afternoon rest…

We enjoyed a quiet dinner around the corner at Rudy’s Mexican Restaurant in Buellton, and turned in for the night; The caravan is over and we head for home tomorrow…

I believe an enjoyable time was had by all the folks on the Wine Tasting Caravan… One Caravanner said it best: “It wasn’t nearly as bad as I thought it would be!” That seems to sum it up…

July 31, 2018 1

2018-07-09 – WBCCI 2018 Wine Tasting Caravan – Day 8 – Santa Maria and Ballard Canyon

We had a leisurely morning parked in the vineyard… At about 10:00 am we headed north to Santa Maria for a different type of wine tasting experience:

This is a tiny warehouse space in a nondescript industrial area of Santa Maria. There are three wineries in this one building, each with about 1,100 sq. ft. They all share spaces and equipment, as is common in the wine-making business. Each of these three wineries makes between 2,000 and 4,000 cases per year.

The first place we visited, where we had our tasting, was Challen Winery. Challen does not own any vineyards – she buys her grapes each year on long term contracts. Challen is the daughter of the late Bill Cates, founder of Tantara Winery, also in this complex. A few years ago, Bill Cates sold Tantara to Carlos Coelho. After the sale, Challen missed having a connection to the wine industry, so she started her own label. Also in this building is Cotiere Winery, owned by Kevin Law. Kevin has been winemaker for Tantara in the past, and is now winemaker for Challen… Small world!

We started to learn about Challen from Julie, Challen’s assistant. After a few wines were tasted, Kevin Law came in and we mixed in Cotiere wines. Finally, Rick Hill, current winemaker for Tantara, came in and shared his wine under his own label: Labyrinth. We had a lovely, exuberant, and somewhat confusing hour and a half, tasting wines from three different wineries. (We tasted no Tantara wines here – that will be tomorrow…)

After order forms were filled out and our farewells were said, we returned south again for a tasting at Rusack Vineyards, in Ballard Canyon, between Los Olivos and Solvang. We first visited here in 1989, when it was called Ballard Canyon Winery. It was a ramshackle winery, and we sat at an old picnic table under the oak trees; we remarked on the fabulous views. Today the winery is in beautiful condition, having been rebuilt over the years by the Rusack family. The views from the deck are still beautiful!

We did some tasting. Rusack is unique in that they grow some of their grapes on Catalina Island! (Mrs. Rusack is a Wrigley…)

After our tastings, we bought several bottles of wine and sat on the deck enjoying our lunch of sandwiches, bought from Panino in Los Olivos…

Once our lunches were finished and our naps complete, we packed up and headed back to the Airstreams…

We moved the Airstreams 15 minutes down the road to Flying Flags RV Resort, and parked in some much-appreciated shade…

Happy hours ensued…

And an enjoyable time was had by all…

July 26, 2018 0

2018-07-08 – WBCCI 2018 Wine Tasting Caravan – Day 7 – Los Olivos

We bid farewell to Wine Country RV Resort this morning and once again pointed the Airstreams south. Today we park at El Camino Real Vineyard, owned by Saarloos and Sons, just outside of Los Olivos…

After a quick set up, we went into Los Olivos and visited the two Saarloos family tasting rooms: Saarloos and Sons, and Waylan:

Some of the group went in search of (and found) cold beer, and others had lunch at Sides Hardware… Los Olivos is a delightful little town consisting of two restaurants, one sandwich shop, one market, one coffee house, 2 beer places and 54 wine tasting rooms…